Aluminum Ideas and Tips

Our Anodized Aluminum sheets and discs are a playful addition to your metal working collection or creative interest. They are incredibly durable and lightweight due to the weight of the aluminum and the electrochemical anodized finish. Our black, gold and silver colors are 22 gauge while all the rest of our colors are 24 gauge.

The Aluminum can be worked just like other metals. Cut with shears, jeweler's saw, metal gullitone cutter and disc cutter. Use a drill or metal punch pliers for holes. Smooth edges with a file, fine sandpaper or run in the tumbler. The design does not come off in the tumbler. We run the aluminum with steel shot and a drop or two of Dawn dish soap for about 20 mins. There is a plastic protective film on the back of the sheets. Remove the film before tumbling, gluing or finishing your piece.

These earrings were created by taking a ball pien hammer to purple rectangles that we cut from a solid purple sheet and taking the chiseled end of a hammer to solid orange discs.

The front and the back of these earrings are fun.

Bracelets are fun and easy to make. Link our round discs and squares and rectangles cut from our sheets with jump rings to create this lightweight and playful wearable. Or, try out a reversible bangle with domed discs back to back with a solid disc inbetween linked with jump rings..

These rings are an assortment of our discs glued to our ring bases

Add color to your pieces with ink pens and colored pencils. The silver areas of your piece accept a color like a stain. This makes for a million different combinations to create a bazillion different looks. Sharpies produce darker more vibrant colors while non permanent ink pens create a softer more subtle look.

Color a patterned disc or sheet with a Sharpie. Rub a Pro Polish Pad over your freshly colored piece to take the excess color of the face of the aluminum. All that should be left is color in the silver area or design. Be sure to use a clean area of your pad for best removal.

With non permanent inks, use a damp sponge to wipe off colored areas to remove excess ink. Color each piece of the design with its own color, color the entire area with one color or use multiple colors that are blended together.

When blending, color areas first with your lightest colors. Then, color the areas with the next darkest color. Come back over the dark area with your Pro Polish Pad and blend the darker color back into the lighter ones.

Apply resin over the top of your piece to create dimension and vibrance. Adhear your piece to your table surface with double sided tape and use the least amount of resin as possible to coat the surface. We use a toothpick to draw the resin to the edges of the piece. Be sure your piece is lying flat so the resin does not run off the edge.